


Cormoran the Giant

by NotManTheLessButNatureMore



Series: Cormoran the (Younger) Giant [5]
Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: Gen, Leda is a good mother, she just struggles with it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 05:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17698235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotManTheLessButNatureMore/pseuds/NotManTheLessButNatureMore
Summary: A moment between Leda and Cormoran.





	Cormoran the Giant

“Cormoran!” Leda called, the sound of a tractor in a distant field the only answer.

 

“Cormoran Blue Strike if you don’t come here right now, I swear...” Her voice trailed off. Empty threats had never worked with him, not when he’d refused spoonfuls of dinner or when he was too rough with Lucy.

 

“For god’s sake.” She muttered, fishing in her back pocket for her cigarettes and coming up empty.

 

She walked on past the hedgerow that disappeared half way down the field and gave way to a forest trail. She had walked into Ted and Joan’s kitchen to find Cormoran pulling at the back door handle. When she asked where he was going he just kept pulling on the door roughly. He was barely as tall as the door handle and couldn’t reach the top safety latch. She opened the latch and as she reached to ruffle his hair he ducked away from her and darted down the garden and out across the back field. She paused, watching him run, and then thought again of the look on his face as he tried desperately to flee the kitchen and decided to follow him.

 

She entered the shelter of the forest trail, the canopies creating a sense of stillness, and walked towards the left where she knew a collection of downed tree trunks lay. She spotted his dark head of curls straight away. He was sitting on a log with his back to her. She saw his ears prick up and his head turn slightly as the crunch of leaves under her foot gave her away. He stayed silent and gave no recognition of her arrival. She sat down beside him but he flinched away when she tried to brush some of his unruly hair off his forehead.

 

“What’s wrong darling?”

 

“Go away.” He said, curling his hand into a fist.

 

“Cormoran you don’t speak to me like that!” She said firmly, glancing at his small clenched fist. She had come to worry about the fights he was getting into on the playground and at school in recent months. He never really hurt anyone but the school had started asking questions again about his home life. She’d fluttered her lashes and sighed as she complained about what rough housers little boys were and the school principal had offered his sympathy. It did worry her though, the way he’d pick fights with older boys and then apologise with a look of deep remorse, and if she was honest something darker, on his little face afterwards. She had mentioned it to Ted but she received the usual lecture and none of the support she sought.

 

“Talk to me Cormoran.” She reached out and covered his fist with her hand.

 

“You don’t want us. I knew it.” He said with a gulp.

 

“What?”

 

“I heard you. You and uncle Ted.” _Oh_. Leda pulled her hand away from his and cupped his chin.

 

“You didn’t hear it properly-“ Cormoran pulled his chin away from her and went to stand.

 

“You don’t want me.” He shouted, his bottom lip starting to tremble. She pulled him back and held him by the wrists so he couldn’t run away.

 

“I want you.” She said firmly, feeling the old familiar sting of tears.

 

A memory flashed into her mind. She was sitting on the side of the bath tub in her friend’s flat in Soho with a pregnancy test in her hands, _“You gonna get rid of it then?”_.

 

“I want you Cormoran. I always have.”

 

“I heard you.” He countered, quieter this time.

 

“No... I... I was just asking uncle Ted if maybe...” She looked away and took a deep breath, wishing for a cigarette or something stronger.

 

“I know how much you and Lucy like it here, and I see how happy you are. You and all your little friends have so many adventures, don’t you?” She waited but his face didn’t change.

 

“And I thought you’d like it better here.”

 

“I want to be with you.” He said, looking directly into her eyes.

 

“I know darling. But sometimes mummy makes bad decisions and it’s not good for you or Lucy.” Leda brushed a tear quickly away that had fallen down her cheek.

 

“I don’t care. Lucy doesn’t either.”

 

“I do.”

 

“You take care of us.” He argued and Leda felt the weight of all the disapproving and disappointed glances that had been thrown her way since she left the hospital with Cormoran in her arms.

 

“I won’t get in a fight ever again and Lucy won’t ever cry again.” He pleaded and she pulled him roughly into her arms feeling how cold his little body was.

 

“I love you so much, you know that? Even when you get into fights, I love you. Even when you shout or cry or won’t put your school uniform on, I love you. You and Lucy are the best parts of my life.” She said, her heart in her throat.

 

“What about him?” From the venom in his voice she knew who he was talking about. She looked away sadly, watching as a squirrel disappeared behind a distant tree.

 

“Corm... Some day, when you’re older, you’ll understand things more. I promise.”

 

“I’m old enough now.” He said, puffing out his chest slightly and pulling away from her. She wrapped her hand around his forearm, running her thumb along the milky unmarked skin.

 

“But then you wouldn’t be my baby boy.” She smiled down at him and pulled him close. It took a moment but then she felt his arms wrap around her waist and squeeze tight. They stayed like that for a long time before the sun finally made its way through the tree canopy, creating beams of light shining like torches.

 

“Do you remember when I used to help you climb trees?” She felt him nod his head from where it was pressed against her chest.

 

“I’d pick you up and then you’d reach for the lowest branch and I’d push you up by your legs, and you’d always manage to get muck all over my hands. How long has it been since we did that?”

 

“Ages.” Came the muffled response.

 

“Ages.” She echoed and pulled him out of the hug and pointed towards a tall oak tree in the distance.

 

“What about that one?” She asked.

 

“It’s huge!” Leda smiled at Cormoran’s bulging eyes.

 

“If you climb to the top you’ll see everything the giants see.” Leda said with a wink.

 

“Cormoran the giant.” They said together. He jumped up and started running towards the great oak. Leda watched as he moved away from her with a sudden bittersweet feeling.

 

“Wait for me.” She called after him. He stopped halfway and impatiently jumped up and down until she caught up with him and they joined hands. She laughed to herself as he pulled her along, all the while shouting ‘Cormoran the giant’.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! I had written two Leda and Strike scenes for another story and, upon choosing the other, rather than just discard this I thought I’d post it.
> 
> (Side note: the man alluded to by Cormoran is not Whittaker, although it may seem like it but the dates don’t add up. Just another nameless, and probably not harmless, boyfriend of Leda’s.)


End file.
